An optical fiber connector can include a housing with one or more passages and a terminus mounted in each passage. Each terminus has a bore that holds an optical fiber so a tip of the fiber lies at the front end of the terminus. When a pair of connectors mate, the ferrules of the termini abut, with at least one of the ferrules sliding backward. A spring allows the terminus to slide backward slightly while biasing the terminus forwardly.
A manufacturer of the terminus usually provides a unit that includes the terminus body, the spring, and a means that holds the spring in place until the terminus is inserted into a connector housing, and which thereafter helps retain the terminus unit in the housing. The fact that the spring must be retained on a shaft of the terminus body, has previously required the terminus body to be made into parts, with a rear part mounted on the rest of the body only after the spring has been installed. This increases the cost of the terminus body. Also, the connector housing had a retention plate to mount the terminus body in the housing. A low cost device that retained the helical spring on the terminus body shaft prior to mounting in a connector housing passage, and which thereafter held the terminus securely in the housing passage while allowing limited rearward sliding of the terminus body, would be of value.